Bamboo is a two player game played on an initially empty hexagonal grid. The two players, Red and Blue, place their own stones onto unoccupied cells on the board, one stone per turn. Players are not allowed to pass. Mark Steere designed Bamboo in March, 2021.
A group is comprised of one or more interconnected, like colored stones.
A player’s group can’t contain more stones than the number of groups he has. See Figures 1 and 2.
The last player to place a stone wins.
Feel free to publish this rule sheet and to program the game of Bamboo. No licensing fee or royalties are expected. However, please don’t change the name or the rules, and please attribute the game to me, Mark Steere. My other games can be found at marksteeregames.com.
Six computer levels. Level 1 plays at random. Levels 2 and 3 think with a few random playouts and choose loosely among the moves they liked. Levels 4 and 5 think harder and take the move they liked best. Level 6, Unbeatable, thinks for three seconds with as many playouts as fit, and plays perfectly once the end of the game is within reach of an exact search.
The number of groups each player has is shown under the board. Green dots mark the cells where a stone may be placed. Undo takes back your last move. Hint marks the move that level 6 would play.